


Just You

by Baroness_Blixen



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Cheesy Romantic Gestures, Early MSR, F/M, mulder as a boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 08:31:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17019273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baroness_Blixen/pseuds/Baroness_Blixen
Summary: She's known Mulder as her partner and her friend. How different could he be as her boyfriend? Scully is in for a surprise.





	Just You

This is the last straw.

Mulder is grinning at her, holding a single rose, in front of a horse-drawn sleigh. It’s so cheesy she thinks she might melt.

“Surprise,” Mulder says, offering her the rose with a shaky hand. Scully doesn’t take it, merely stares at him. This has to end. Tonight.

“Mulder, I think… we need to talk.”

It all began with a gift and a nightmare. She woke up sweating and cursing one night, her dreams shadows, reaching for her and take her back to that dark place. Like they’d done before. That night, a few weeks after her return, she got up and Mulder’s gift, that silly VHS, was there on her coffee table. She smiled, thinking of him. Not caring about the late hour, she picked up the phone and called him.

“How do you feel about watching “Superstars of the Super Bowl” together?“ She asked with her eyes squeezed shut, praying he wouldn’t say no. He didn’t. Twenty minutes later he arrived, his hair ruffled, his clothes crinkled. He held her through it all, warm and solid and safe against her.

"I’ll never let anything happen to you again ever,” he whispered into her ear. A promise they both knew he couldn’t possibly keep, but the sentiment was honest. When she turned to him, his eyes were there, sad and true. His mouth opened slightly and she stole whatever words he might have had from his lips. That was their tentative beginning.

Before Scully had wondered maybe once or twice how Mulder would be in a relationship, as a boyfriend. She couldn’t have imagined this. Each morning they didn’t wake up and drive to work together, he brought her her favorite coffee. He made sure to be at the office before her so the warm, rich smell could greet her. Sometimes she allowed a small kiss good morning when she was certain it was safe. Or when she couldn’t resist him. Every day he asked her where she wanted to have lunch. Once, just to test him, she said the sushi place around the corner knowing how much he hated sushi. Yet he kissed her, overjoyed, claiming he couldn’t wait. Mulder the boyfriend was a whole new person than Mulder the partner and even the friend. It didn’t take long for her to miss the man she knew.

Then came the irritation. “Should I wear the blue tie?” He asked her one Sunday before church; he’d asked her the night before if he could go with her. “Or the brown one?”

“Mulder, wear whatever you want.”

“But which one do you like better?” She picked brown to piss him off and yet he wore it proudly all day. He charmed her mother by being the perfect gentleman. It was unnerving, unbelievably so.

“He’s very eager,” Melissa snickered when Mulder excused himself to go to the bathroom. “Like a puppy.”

“He’s driving me nuts,” Scully admitted, looking around scared that Mulder might have returned already. “Yesterday he offered to do my taxes.” Her sister merely laughed.

“He missed you, Dana, and he’s in love with you. If he’s too much, just tell him.” But he returned, his whole face a smile, and kissed her softly, thanking her for this beautiful day, for letting him into her life.

But tonight - this - is the last straw. She can’t go on like this another day.

“Please don’t tell me you’re breaking up with me in front of these horses.” Mulder is joking, but he’s also scared. She sees him fumble with the rose and before she can remind him to be careful, a thorn has pricked his skin and small red droplets of blood trickle to the ground like snow.

“Oh Mulder.” She reaches into her purse; she’s always packing band-aids knowing how accident-prone he is.

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Breaking up with me.”

“No, Mulder, I’m not.” She kisses his bandaged up finger. “I just - this isn’t you. You’ve been doing all these things that are so… so… un-Mulder. A horse-drawn sleigh?” She shakes her head. “Not you.”

“I just want you to be happy.”

“And I want you to be you. I am happy, Mulder. With you. The man who wears mismatched socks, who tells me that salad is rabbit food, who doesn’t shy away from arguing with me. That’s my Mulder.”

“Scully, everything you’ve been through and-” She silences him with two fingers against his lips.

“None of that is your fault. You hear me? You don’t need to treat me like I’m made of glass. I’m not. I want to be with you and Mulder, I want you as you. You got that?” He nods.

“So no horse-drawn sleigh ride?” Mulder is pouting. Scully looks over at the horses. Maybe it’s not the worst idea.

“If you promise me that this is your last cheesy romantic gesture.”

“Ever?”

“How about… once a year?”

“Twice a year and you’ve got a deal.” Scully loves this man. She fell in love with his stubborn recklessness, his insane determination. But she loves all of him, strange romantic notions, loyal neediness and everything. She takes his hand and they get into the sleigh, his hand on her back. He holds her close like that first night they started out, the night they became more.

“Thank you, Scully,” he whispers against her ear with a soft kiss that makes her shiver. She squeezes his hand, words escaping her. She loves him and soon, very soon, she’ll tell him so. She smiles.


End file.
